“Once you see it it, it’s too late,” is Smile’s tagline, but it’s not too late to sing the virtues of a film which, while offering plot beats similar to other IPs, has deservedly drummed up a lot of business.
“Transmission” horror, moves something evil or nefarious from host to host. It’s a trope common to literally thousands of zombie and outbreak films. However, on rare occasions, a film will tweak this conceit in unique or clever ways – think the linguistic virus in Pontypool, the Overlook Hotel, transferring its bad mojo to the caretaker family in The Shining or the sex bug in It Follows, to which which Smile is occasionally and probably unfairly, compared.
Smile, meanwhile, has a different sort of vector – an entity which attacks victims who have been first-hand witnesses to trauma.
It’s a neat idea and Smiles blows out of the gate with an opener which is as harrowing as Midsommar’s gut-wrenching murder-suicide.
Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kevin and Kyra Sedgwick) is a clinical therapist whose patient, Laura, a PhD candidate, has witnessed her prof off himself. Laura ends up dead herself, in turn traumatizing Rose, whose employer promptly puts her on stress leave.
Being unable to break a cycle of trauma underpins Smile, and is a powerful metaphor in addition to plot device. And it mostly works, fueled by undeniably creepy visuals, great performances and stark settings and set pieces.
Where Smile falls short is ironically, its length. This is 30-minutes too long. Also, Smile has a tendency to wallow in darkness and misery. What makes something like A Nightmare on Elm Street so powerful, is the contrast between dark and light (literally, in fact) depicting the the everyday joys of teenage life before Freddy sinks his fingers in, in dreams.
Also, as Rose’s mental state deteriorates, she’s provided little comfort by a thinly-written fiancé. The film also tries to “Se7en” viewers with…well, you know.
***3/4 (out of 5)